Information on working terriers, dogs, natural history, hunting, and the environment, with occasional political commentary as I see fit. This web log is associated with the Terrierman.com web site.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

The Only Book on Practical Terrier Work

"JRTCA Recommended Reading -- This book ... is great reading for all terriermen and women." -- Jack Russell Terrier Club of America

I started hunting alone, with a dog that was too big, and with a laughable set of tools. I didn’t own a pole snare, barely knew how to work a Deben collar, and had only the vaguest sense of what my options were once I dug down to the quarry.

Most of the terrier books were a wonder - not one mentioned a bar, none described how to dig a hole deeper than two feet, dispatch was never described, and locating a fox sette was a topic missed entirely.

If nets were mentioned, they did not explain how to set them, nor was the slightest mention made of washing out a dog’s eyes at the end of a dig. Veterinary advice, if given, seemed to have been gleaned from some 19th Century tome. Coal-tar was advised as a curative for mange, for example, but basic antibiotics for lacerations were never suggested.

After a woman friend with too few tools, too little upper body mass, and tool little experience or practical knowledge, lost her dog to skunk toxic shock, I sat down to write this book in order to perhaps save the lives of a few dogs while promoting sensible terrier work.

This is the book I wished had been available when I started out.

The sections on veterinary care and tools alone will save most people more money than the cost of this book, while the tips on digging, locator collars, skunk toxic shock, and handling quarry at the end of a dig, may save you more than money.

This book is about working terriers, but if you show, breed or judge any type of terrier, you will find this book an eye-opener.

Chapter 1: A Quick Sweep of European Terrier History
Sections: Enter the Dog . First Movements From France . Malthus, Darwin, and the Enclosure Movement . Jack Russell and the First Working Terriers . Classy People and Their Classy DogsThe Rise of Animal Rights Rhetoric . Early Organized Terrier Work . The RSPCA’s New CauseFoolish Youth . Bulldozers and 'The Ban'

Chapter 2: A Quick Sweep of American Terrier HistorSection:Our Founding Terrier . Shooting Out the Land . Crowded Cities . Popular Pets . Hook and Bullet Conservation . Early American Working Terriers . The American Working Terrier Association . The Jack Russell Terrier Club of America . The American Kennel Club Embraces the Jack Russell . The United Kennel Club Earthwork Program . A Few Small Working Dogs in a Very Big Country

Chapter 3: American Quarry and Lands
Section:The Geography of American Terrier Work . The Rise of American Hedgerows . Groundhog Life and Habitat . Raccoon Life and Habitat . Red Fox Life and Habitat . Gray Fox Life and Habitat . Opossum Life and Habitat . American Badger Life & Habitat . A Few Notes on Dens and Burrows . Comparing Apples and Eggs

Chapter 4: The American Working Dog
Fantasy Diggers . A Proper Dog . Span Quarry Before Buying Dogs . Reality Comes to the Rally . A Useful Dog . The Size of American Working Terriers . What is a Puddin? . Balancing Points . A Question of Breed . Locating the Right Dog

Chapter 5: Early Training
Sections: Under Six Months . Six to 10 Months . Long Tunnel Construction & Training . Using Quarry . Putting It All Together . Explode the Code Within . The Pull and Recall

Chapter 7: Technique
Sections: Getting and Keeping Farm Permissions . Walking the Land . A Day in the Field . Dogs on the Ground . How to Use a Deben Box and Collar . How to Dig a Hole . Handling Live Quarry . Dispatch . The End of the Day